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A few years ago, as I was prepping to teach a class to child care providers, I came across an alarming statistic about the language skills of low income children compared to their middle class and higher income counterparts.

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of common parental phrases that have caused me some anguish. I dislike them for their lack of effectiveness in teaching the child a lesson (the true reason they’re being used in the first place) and their effectiveness in making the child feel as if having an opinion and making mistakes are unacceptable.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend Zippity Zoo Days. As a previous attendee of this event—and an adult with a basic sense of what goes on at children’s events—I was prepared for an afternoon of animals, bouncy houses, music and face painting mixed with sunscreen and sweat. I knew that this was going to be more than a typical visit to the zoo and I was prepared for this change.

One of the common problems that was addressed was Sensory Processing Disorder, or SPD. As a mental health professional who works primarily with the early childhood population, SPD has become a significant part of my practice.

In young children, there’s a fine line between those positive behaviors that make parents beam with joy, and problem behaviors that cause parents to blush with embarrassment.

Every week, I post articles, parenting tips and other resources for parents on my Facebook page. To provide these resources to you, I have to do a lot of reading and weeding through the good and the bad information that is available on the internet

During a thorough session of Spring cleaning this week, I came across some notes from a child development class about the ways in which children learn.

If you read my blog from last week, you learned that stress during pregnancy can lead to fussy, difficult to soothe babies. This information comes from a studythat looked at maternal stress and anxiety during pregnancy, and outcomes involving the length and health of the pregnancy, and the short and long-term effects on the child as the child grows through to adulthood.

Most people have a preconceived notion about a child’s parents—more specifically their ability to parent—when they see a child behaving in a particular way. Let’s admit it, we’ve all been at the grocery store and been quick to judge parents when we saw how their child was acting. Depending on the age of the child, when we see a child throwing a tantrum, we may instantly jump to the conclusion that this parent doesn’t discipline their child well.